Adolph's Choice (Grooms with Honor Book 7)

by Linda K. Hubalek

  Instead of tired, Poppy was now energized. She’d learn how to use the stove and learn more about the townspeople through her new neighbor. Huh, an Appalachian woman from Tennessee and a Swedish woman from the Montana Territory, neighbors in a small Kansas town.

  ***

  “Didn’t expect you to be working today, Adolph, considering you have a new bride at home,” Gabe Shepard teased him as he scraped the hog hide lying across a big log behind the butchering site.

  Adolph worked beside him on a nearby table, cleaning out the pig’s entrails. This part of the job was done outdoors. Once the hog was cleaned out, he’d haul it over to the meat market and break up the carcass into meat cuts for his customers.

  “People will expect their pork on the usual day. Can’t disappoint the customers,” Adolph said, although he felt a twinge of guilt from running out of the house so fast this morning. He didn’t know what to do since Poppy was upsetting his schedule.

  He did wonder what Poppy was doing without him there at the house. Hopefully sleeping since he knew she was tired, but he could see her roaming the house, trying to figure out things. He’d never guessed a woman in this day and age didn’t know how to use a kitchen stove.

  And Poppy thought she had to go to a creek to get water for a bath? He was still shaking his head over that. Wait until she sees the clothes washer on the enclosed back porch. No pounding clothes with a rock along a stream for his wife.

  “What are you smiling about, Adolph? Thinking about last night?” Gabe wiggled his eyebrows hinting it had been their wedding night.

  Adolph blushed but ignored Gabe’s question. “Just thinking about Poppy’s excitement over having hot water piped directly into the bathtub.”

  “Well, any country woman would be excited about that,” Gabe said as he scraped his tool against the hide. All the meat had to be off the skin before he could tan the hide.

  “Turns out Poppy came from some backwoods stuck back in time. Her home had a dirt floor and a fireplace to cook on, no kitchen stove, let alone a kitchen.”

  “And then she walks into your house, fully furnished. What was her reaction?”

  “Uh, overwhelmed?” Adolph suggested.

  “And you let her be home alone? You better hope she doesn’t burn down your house today as she tries things out. Women are curious creatures, always wondering why and how things work. Even if you explain the device to them, they must try it out themselves. Trust me on this. Ida Mae keeps me on my toes more than our youngsters.”

  Adolph mentally went through each room of his house, thinking what Poppy would pick up, open, try to figure out. Everything in his home was normal to him, but maybe foreign to Poppy? What besides the stove? She learned how to use everything in the bathroom yesterday.

  Opening drawers? A chill ran up Adolph’s spine. He still had Anna Marie’s portrait in a drawer of his roll-top desk. He’d taken it off the shelf, but he couldn’t bear the thought of tossing the photograph into the kitchen stove as he should have.

  Would Poppy go through his desk? Would it bother her to see his fiancée’s face? Adolph had told Poppy about Anna Marie, so it should be all right. But maybe he should put the portrait in a different place. Or show Poppy and then destroy it?

  “Careful, Adolph! You about cut off your hand. Pay attention to the meat instead of thinking about your bride,” Gabe admonished him. “She’ll appreciate you coming home uninjured.”

  Hopefully, she’d welcome him home if she didn’t find that photograph and anything else that might bother her. Adolph didn’t realize when he answered a mail-order bride advertisement how much it would complicate his life.

  Chapter 7

  Adolph quietly opened the front door of the house and tiptoed in. Most of the time he used the back door, but he didn’t want the dogs to bark as they met him. Hopefully Poppy was taking a nap, and he could move the picture from his desk.

  The cat was in her usual place on the settee taking her nap and barely slit her eyes open a second to acknowledge him before going back to sleep.

  The mantle clock rang twelve times, marking the noon hour, and he hoped it didn't wake Poppy.

  Poppy wasn't in the kitchen, but there were wooden boxes of grocery staples on the counter, ready to be put away. The bathroom door was open, so it wasn't being used.

  Adolph eased up the stairs, avoiding the wooden steps he knew would creak with his weight. Peeking in their bedroom, and then the others showed the house was empty.

  He wondered where Poppy was, but it didn't matter at this moment because it was his opportunity to move Anna Marie's portrait. He went down the stairs two at a time and just slid the desk drawer open to pull out the silver-framed portrait...

  "Hey, Adolph. I didn't know if you'd be home for lunch today," Poppy said, right at his elbow.

  Why did he oil the front door hinges last month?

  Adolph turned towards her and used his hand to slide the drawer shut behind him.

  "Uh, we didn't talk about that did we? I thought I'd come home and see how you’re doing," Adolph said as he took her elbow and steered her to the kitchen.

  "I see you've been to the mercantile."

  "Yes, Linnea Lundahl came over after breakfast and helped me shop for staples. Then, I went over to her home and baked sugar cookies to learn how to use our oven. I came back in case you came home for lunch," Poppy said as she lifted a cookie from a cloth-lined basket.

  "Try a cookie and see what you think. Linnea gave us meat sandwiches for our lunch too," Poppy continued excitedly.

  Adolph bit into the cookie, glad that Poppy had stayed busy with their neighbor this morning.

  "Very good! You'll be an excellent cook before you know it," Adolph praised Poppy, wanting her to learn how to be a good housewife for both their benefit.

  "I'll pour us cups of coffee if you want to get the sandwiches on plates." His heart rate was almost down to normal. Hopefully, there would be time this evening to hide the picture.

  "What do you plan to do this afternoon? You can spend it in the meat market for a while if you want to talk to customers and wrap their meat packages. But I realize you might want to get your kitchen pantry organized."

  Poppy sat down at the table across from Adolph. She looked better, just twenty-four hours since arriving in town, but there were still dark circles under her eyes.

  "Maybe you need to rest this afternoon instead. There will be many more days you can help at the meat market," Adolph suggested.

  Poppy put down her sandwich and took a sip of coffee before answering. Adolph noticed she most always did a little twist with her mouth when she was thinking.

  "You know, it would be best I wait. Besides organizing the pantry, I want to visit Mary Jenkins. I really need to be wearing a hat and gloves when I'm out in public. I don't want to embarrass you by not looking proper."

  Adolph reached across the table, picking up her hand and giving it a squeeze. "Do what you feel like today, be it visit with Mary, or take a nap. Let the house be for a few days," Adolph suggested, mainly so she didn't start going through desk drawers. "I'd like to treat you to the Paulson Hotel dining room for supper tonight, too, so don't worry about the kitchen yet either."

  "Ah, that's so sweet of you to suggest that, Adolph. After bein’ with Linnea and Sophie all morning, I am feelin’ a bit tuckered."

  They spent the rest of the meal talking about what they had been doing, to get to know each other better.

  After they cleaned up the dinner dishes, Adolph had to get back to the meat market. He gave Poppy a sweet kiss and then led her to the staircase.

  "Take a nap, and I'll see you after work." After she went upstairs, he'd move the photograph.

  "I'm going to lay down on the settee with Flicka instead of going upstairs. I don't want to miss any afternoon visitors."

  Oh, shoot! He couldn't move the photo with her downstairs. It would have to wait until later.

  "All right. Have a good rest, and I'll be back before
you know it."

  Adolph went out the front door and stood on the porch for a few moments. He wiped his hand over his face, trying to think what to do. Poppy almost caught him pulling out Anna Marie's portrait. But, Poppy wouldn’t know what it was, so he was making too big of a deal about it. He’d get rid of it this evening and not have to worry about it anymore.

  ***

  Should she look or not? This was her home now too, but all the items in the house were Adolph's. And most men would consider their desk their personal business.

  Poppy slowly pulled open the drawer enough to peek inside, and she was right. Yes, there was a picture frame, about eight by ten inches in size, lying face down in the drawer under a short stack of papers. She didn't dare touch the delicate silver filigree edging although she wanted to.

  Fergus Reagan had taken their portrait after the wedding ceremony yesterday. Poppy didn't know when the pictures would be done, but she bet Adolph bought this unique frame for their wedding portrait and she almost caught him hiding it away. He'd be giving it to her as a surprise later.

  Poppy carefully pushed the drawer back in place. She didn't want to see the front of the frame because she wanted to be surprised.

  Chapter 8

  “You got a chicken coop back here?” Poppy asked as they walked toward the back door of the meat market after breakfast. She hadn’t seen the business yet and was, luckily, anxious and interested in seeing it. Some wives wouldn’t want to have anything to do with a meat market.

  Instead of his building going all the way back to the alley like the rest of the Main Street stores, it had open space to the back alley. Besides the chicken coop, there was a small smokehouse, and room to maneuver a wagon to the back-double doors.

  “That’s my chicken supply for my daily orders. I have a few farmers who raise chickens for me, and they bring them into town when they can, and let them out in the coop pen. I butcher several dozen chickens a week.

  “Want to throw them some grain and check for eggs? You’re welcome to take care of them.”

  “Here I was wishin’ for a chicken house in our backyard. I’d love to take care of the chickens.”

  “You’re welcome to take over the job. I have a barrel of grain in the backroom of the shop for their feed. There’s a basket if there’s eggs too,” Adolph said, pleased that Poppy wanted to help with the business.

  “Where you got your hogs and cattle?”

  “Farmers bring the animals in when I need them, so I don’t always have livestock in town. But while livestock are here, there’s pens by the livery where they are kept. I trade meat with the liveryman to feed and water the livestock.”

  “Hogs in Collard’s Cove were wild, roamin’ the area and livin’ on acorns and such. We’d just go shoot one and haul it home to butcher it up. Never had any penned up,” Poppy told Adolph.

  “Hogs here are fattened up on table scraps and corn. I think you’ll like the taste of the meat,” Adolph assured Poppy.

  “Anybody ever bring in raccoons or possums for your market?” Poppy asked, probably hoping so.

  “No, most people don’t eat those wild animals anymore like they used to, at least not here in town,” Adolph replied, interested in his wife’s disappointed look.

  “If I get a-hankerin' for possum, can I go huntin’?”

  Adolph laughed at Poppy’s big grin. He couldn’t help putting his arm around her shoulder and giving her a side hug.

  “We sometimes have wildlife roaming through town at night, searching for scraps. You can ask Marshal Wilerson if he’d shoot you a possum if he sees one down an alley on his night rounds. A gunshot in town kind of stirs up people now days though. We’re not the wild west anymore.”

  “I’ll set a trap for one then,” Poppy said in a determined tone.

  Why eat a greasy possum when you can eat prime meat? Just another thing of their differences in their past lives that they’d have to get used to.

  “Now I’m familiar with the smokehouse. Besides hogs, we’d smoke deer meat to make jerky. Looks like it’s smokin’ now,” Poppy observed.

  “I’m always smoking meat. If I don’t sell all the meat fresh, I smoke it to sell that way. In the fall it’s full of hams curing for Christmas dinners.”

  “You have turkeys in the area you can shoot for Thanksgiving?”

  Poppy was talking about hunting again. Maybe she was missing it, knowing the opportunity wasn’t going to happen here as it did for her in Tennessee.

  “There are wild turkeys around the river, but a farmer raises a flock for me to butcher for the Thanksgiving week. Some years people have Thanksgiving dinner at home, and some years we’ve had a community meal at the hotel.”

  “Oh, that sounds fun. I’m enjoyin’ all the people in town. I didn’t realize how isolated I was at home since…” Poppy stopped her chatter.

  “Since what?” Adolph wanted to know. Would she open to him?

  “Since Pappy didn’t let me go to town. He did all the tradin’. I did go out and hunt for food though,” Poppy rubbed her hands down her skirt as she mumbled the last words.

  Adolph needed to rent a buggy and take Poppy out for a drive in the country. And maybe take his rifle along to give her a chance to shoot it, be it at a jackrabbit or a tin can.

  “How about fishin’? Is there a creek around here where I can catch bass, crappie, or sunfish?” Poppy looked hopeful again.

  Adolph gagged at the thought of eating fish as that’s about all he ate when he was scrounging to survive in Stockholm as a young adult.

  “People fish in the river here, usually catching catfish or carp, which is full of bones.” Adolph braced for the next question.

  “If it’s nice next Sunday after church, can we go to the river for a picnic lunch and fish?”

  Adolph had crossed his arms, and Poppy grabbed his forearms with her hands and leaned forward, inches away from his lips.

  “Please?” Poppy whispered before she gave him a quick kiss.

  “Now how can I say no to my bride?” Adolph leaned down to kiss Poppy again. How did newlyweds get any work done when there’s temptation inches away?

  “Thank you! Now let’s get inside. I want to see the meat market.”

  *

  “Time to stop for lunch,” Adolph said as he pulled off his butcher’s apron.

  “Already? I’m not done pluckin’ this chicken yet. Give me five more minutes,” Poppy answered as she deftly continued her job.

  Adolph assumed Poppy would go back home after he gave her a tour, but she eagerly jumped in to help him catch, butcher, and clean chickens.

  While Adolph enjoyed Poppy helping him, he didn’t want her working in the market every day. She needed time to make friends, besides cleaning and cooking at home. But this was what Poppy was familiar with, rather than feather-dusting knickknacks so he’d comprise.

  “Do you want to help certain days of the week at the market?”

  “Oh, I can be here every day, Adolph,” Poppy quickly answered, as he was afraid she’d do.

  “No, you’ll have other obligations, being part of the community now. Church functions to help plan, quilting bees, and Rose was wanting to spend time with you in the library,” Adolph pointed out. If Poppy learned to read and write past her limited education, it would be easier for her to fit into groups.

  “And plantin’ and tendin’ to my garden, whenever you get around to fencin’ off a section of the yard. I don’t want the dogs to dig the garden up.”

  “I’ll talk to Mack about building you a fence as soon as possible.” Adolph wasn’t going to take the time to do it himself when they had a carpenter in town.

  “Okay, I’m done with this chicken, but I do want to come back this afternoon when you have customers in,” Poppy said as she took off Adolph’s extra apron.

  “If you’re going to work here, you’ll need some butcher aprons to fit you. Visit with Mary Jenkins this afternoon to get two made for you. Unless you want to make them yourself?�
�

  “My sewing skills don’t go past mendin’ since I didn’t have money for dress material,” Poppy blushed, embarrassed about another skill she should know how to do.

  “Ask Mary if she’d swap her work for meat. In fact, bring her one of the chickens you cleaned this morning. She can cook it for their supper.”

  “That’s a fine idea,” Poppy said as they walked to the back door. “Thank you again for choosin’ me to be your wife, Adolph. You’ve truly turned my life around for the better.”

  “You’re welcome, Poppy,” Adolph said as he locked the back door.

  Poppy turned his life around too, and he was still absorbing the effect of his marriage to this woman.

  He was still a little shocked by her appearance since she looked so opposite of what he’d expected due to her photograph advertisement.

  Adolph had also expected a refined woman, able to take care of the household as well as becoming a pillar of the community.

  Instead, he married a woman who wanted to hunt and fish instead of being home to enjoy and take care of the up-to-date house he’d prepared for his bride.

  Well, at least Poppy was good at cleaning chickens, and Adolph bet she could scald and cut up a hog in record time. Maybe he should continue taking care of the house as he’d done for years, and let Poppy take over the meat market.

  Chapter 9

  “How’s married life, Poppy?” Rose asked as she winked at her. Poppy blushed but answered anyway since she was among her new friends.

  “Um, good, but different than what I expected? We’ve only been married a week, but in some ways it seems longer, and other days it’s like I just met Adolph.”

  “Even after all the years Patrick and I have been married, he’ll surprise me, or leave me dumbfounded, by something he does or says,” Kaitlyn said as she drew her needle and thread through the quilt layers. The women laughed or nodded in response.

  Women sat around two quilt stands set up in the event room at the Paulson Hotel. The group was quilting tops for Avalee Paulson today. With six daughters still to marry over time, Helen decided to start on Avalee’s quilts.